Dangerous Attraction
by Lyssaphra
Summary: Alternate reality. Buffy was a normal, happy Slayer until Angelus Marciano blows into her life with his family curse.
1. Part One

"No, I don't know," Buffy hesitated.

"Not even for the opportunity to oogle boys?" She could almost see Willow's raised eyebrow over the phone.

Buffy scrunched her nose. "No, and before you ask, no, I'm not doing anything special."

"So you don't want to check out our new classmate?" Willow said teasingly.

"New student?"

"Yes," Willow said. "Angelus Marciano. I heard the teachers talking."

Buffy chuckled. "Angelus Marcino? Can you really be named that?" Thinking briefly, she then sighed. "Fine. I'll go with you."

Willow squealed. "Yes! Pick you up at two?"

Tapping her nail against the table, Buffy nodded. "Two. Great. See you then."

Buffy put down the phone and glanced at her watch. Half past one. She had exactly half an hour to change. It was the day for the Sunnydale Olympics, where all high school students could compete in different sports. She had intended to skip out, but Willow was...persuasive.

She had almost forgotten about the new student she had heard about, a bit busy with the latest crisis. He was rumored to be a real hunk, even if Snyder had pouted about him having been a gang leader in his old school before being expelled.

Buffy smiled grimly. What he did was probably nothing next to her burning down the gym of her old school. Especially as she supposedly did it without a reason. They should only known she'd fried a couple of hundreds of vampires that night too. And blocked the exits.

She put up her blond hair in a ponytail and pulled off her shabby tee and dirty jeans she was wearing to put on a pair of low-cut capris and a white tank top instead together with a pair of shoes. Then she put on a light jacket over it all.

"Time to go," she mumbled as someone knocked at the front door.

She hurried down the stairs, called a goodbye to her mother and opened the door. Outside, Willow stood, dressed in a green dress with her hair in a plait.

"Ready to go?" she smiled.

Buffy checked herself in the mirror.

"Yeah," she smiled back.

-#-#-#-

Buffy looked out over the stadium where the contests would be. It was a warm, sunny day, perfect for spending time outside. She and Willow had chosen to sit on the left side, close to most of the events.

It was still lots of students lining up to register themselves for some event, among them Xander. A little bit away, Cordelia was training with the cheerleading squad to support the contestants.

"There he is!" Willow suddenly whispered in her ear. "He's as hot as they said he was."

"Where?" Buffy asked, faking interest.

Willow pointed and Buffy followed her finger with her eyes. And a hundred feet away, deeply involved in a quarrel with Principal Snyder, a handsome, tall guy with short, spiky hair was standing, dressed in black track pants and a skintight shirt showing off his physique. His whole body was a slim, lithe killing machine, and he radiated a combination of lethal sexuality and extreme danger. A complete bad boy. If he hadn't been standing in the sunlight, she had thought he was a vampire.

"Whoa," she exclaimed. "He looks like a vampire."

"Yeah," Willow agreed with a far away expression on her face. "Without the suckage or the evil thing. I would date him."

Deeply inside Buffy agreed. She closed her eyes to get rid of the disturbing pictures running trough her head, but was soon interrupted.

"Summers, stop the sun bathing," a voice said acidly.

Buffy held back a sigh and opened her eyes to look at Sunnydale's very own principal. To her surprise, the new guy was standing beside him, with his arms crossed and with an arrogant look in his chocolate brown eyes.

"Yes?" she said softly.

Snyder snorted and gave her a look.

"This is Angelus Marciano," he said shortly. "He's new. Got expelled from his old school for gang fights. Summers, you get him on your conscience. You'll probably get along fine with your similar pasts."

Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Never," Angelus said shortly. "She's a girl.

"So?" Snyder said sourly. "From now and on, I want you two to behave yourselves. Especially you, Summers. It would be my pleasure to expel you from this school.

Snyder turned and strutted away while Buffy decided she really didn't like Angelus Marciano. 'She's a girl'?

"Keep your away from me," Angelus said harshly.

Buffy lifted her eyebrows and turned to Willow.

"OK," she said nonchalantly. "Willow, how many nights do you think Marciano will survive in Sunnydale?"

Willow gave her a cheery smile.

"Without you?" she asked.

Buffy gave her a look.

"Oh," she said thoughtfully. "With his looks? Three."

Buffy nodded and turned to Angelus.

"This is Sunnydale, Marciano," she smiled icily. "And much is going on here you don't have a clue about."

"So?" Angelus said nonchalantly. "I can take care of myself. But I doubt you can."

"So," Buffy drawled. "You came from LA, huh?"

"Yes," Angelus said shortly. "Why?"

Willow laughed and Angelus turned his intensive gaze to her. She stopped laughing.

"So you think you can take care of yourself?" Angelus said icily.

Buffy nodded.

"Show me," he said calmly. "Meet me in two contests, running and martial arts. If you can handle it."

Buffy smiled with the warmth of Antarctic.

"Just let me sign up," she said.

Willow groaned.

"This is not good," she mumbled.

Buffy jogged towards the table you signed up, where Giles and Ms. Calendar sat.

"Buffy Summers," she said shortly. "Running and martial arts."

Giles looked surprised at her.

"Buffy," he said doubtingly. "Are you sure this is such a good idea?"

Buffy laughed dryly.

"No," she said. "But I'll do it anyway."

-#-#-#-

Angelus sat down to wait for the contests to begin.

"So," he said easily to the red head next to him. "Who's my lovely opponent?"

The red head smiled easily.

"Buffy Summers," she answered. "And I'm Willow Rosenburg."

Angelus rose his eyebrows.

"Sheesh," he commented. "And I thought my name was strange. Willow? And Buffy What kind of names are that?"

"Ours," Willow yawned. "So, you were a troublemaker at your old school?"

"Yes," Angelus simply said. "That's why I got expelled. Why did Buffy get expelled?"

Willow shrugged.

"Probably because she skipped classes," she said.

Angelus frowned. You didn't get expelled for that.

"But it could be something else," the girl said. "Maybe that she burned down the gym."

Angelus eyebrows disappeared into his hair. That sexy, beautiful, snobby cheerleader girl burned down the gym? Something wasn't right here. Apparently, Buffy'd signed up now, cause she came strolling back to them with number nine in her hand. She ignored him and turned to Willow instead.

"Will," she said warmly. "Could you help me with the stickers?"

Willow nodded and rose.

-#-#-#-

Buffy recognized his interest as she put on her stickers. His eyes made her tremble as they went up her body. When he dismissed her as the usual cheerleader she almost felt relieved. But to her discomfort she also felt disappointed that he could dismiss her that easy when she couldn't stop thinking about him.

She let the thought go and put her hoodie away to start getting to the first event. As she reached the track, she stepped out of sight to stretch a little, using her slayer abilities. When they called for start, she was warmed up and easily took her place next to Angelus.

They were going to run one mile. It meant two and a half laps, which would mean they ran in heats. But as the rumors started bout hers and Angelus little bet, many had decided to not run, so it would only be one heat.

She inhaled deeply, and surprised herself by managing to smell a fragrance coming from her rival. A clean smell, combined with something rank she recognized as anger. It almost smelled as bad as hate and fear.

They made a sign for them to take their places, and Buffy strolled to the line. She started to inspect her nails as the others knelt beside her and seemed perfectly careless. But when the start came, she leaped from her position and easily took the head, running with a born grace.

Angelus soon came up by her side. He picked up the speed, and Buffy lengthened her steps a bit, still seemingly to jog. And she kept running by his side the whole time, until they reached the final lap. Then she put her powers to use and easily sped from the field, leaving them far behind.

Willow and Giles worriedly met her after her victory.

"Buffy," her watcher said worriedly. "You shouldn't be doing this. It's going to make people suspicious."

Buffy laughed.

"Don't worry," she said. "I don't use my full power. I'm not that stupid."

"You were stupid when you took up on Angelus bet," Willow said sharply. "This can blow your secret."

"Yes," Giles said. "This isn't the time to impress boys."

Buffy got angry.

"I'm not trying to impress Angelus," she said with a an icy calmness which surprised her friends. "He insulted me, he insulted all woman. How handsome he is don't matter. I will get my revenge. But as you want me to, I won't compete anymore."

-#-#-#-

Buffy took off the tight pair of jeans and the white shirt she had worn in school and picked out a few clothes from her wardrobe. She quickly dressed in a wide, black skirt which reached her to mid-thigh, a pair of knee-high boots and a tight black tank top with the text 'Killer Instinct' in big, red, bloody letters to put on a black jacket, arm herself with a couple of stakes and climb out through the window.

With an elegant flip she landed in the grass and ran towards the newest of Sunnydale's eleven cemeteries. Another night of hunting had taken it's beginning.

She could smell the fresh earth from the newly du grave even before she entered the graveyard. Someone impatient had already risen.

A high scream cut trough the night, coming just a few yards away, and Buffy started to run. She could smell the sudden smell of fresh blood as she rounded Anna Morrison's grave, and when she came to the other side, a horrible sight met her. Spike, one evil vampire sired by the master in the early nineteenth century. He stood with a young girls body by his feet.Dark spots of blood stained his dark leather cloths ans his now human face was filled by her blood. His evil eyes glimmered as she came into sight.

"Slayer," he breathed with an evil smile.

"Spike," Buffy said with a cold smile. "You've just gotten your dinner I see."

The vampire shrugged.

"Breakfast actually," he said nonchalantly. "Dru and I had something else going on at sunset..."

"So?" Buffy taunted. "You played with her dolls?"

Spike's face twisted of anger and he vamped out and threw himself at her in anger. She easily stepped aside and gave him a hard kick in his back, sending him to the ground. Buffy took a few quick steps forward to finish him off, but one of his legs shot out, tripping her so she landed heavily on top of him.

"Umph," she groaned.

Suddenly she felt someone come closer to them, and a familiar voice rang trough the night.

"Someone there?" a deep sexy voice she was sorry to say knew to well after the past days.

Quickly Buffy looked up and spotted Angelus coming closer to her and Spike as Spike squirmed underneath her to get loose while a stake rested in her hand.

"Shit," she swore.

Then she gave the body a hard kick, sending it into the bushes and desperately tried to come up with a reason why she would be in a graveyard at half past eleven pm, laying on a guy with a stake in her hand.

She grabbed the first idea she got and kissed Spike thoroughly. A wave of disgust ripped her body as she felt the taste of sweet, warm blood on his lips, but she kept up the picture.

"Play along," she whispered against his lips. "Or you'll be a very dead vampire."

Threatening him, she placed the stake against his ribs. She felt him make a face, but soon enough he put his hands around her waist. Buffy let her hand tangle itself in his hair while the other rested on the stake.

The bushes on her left side parted and Angelus entered the place. She gave him a few seconds to look over the picture, the broke the kiss and created a blush on her cheeks as she sat up, still on Spike to keep the stake out of sight.

"Angelus!" she gasped with faked surprise.

"Buffy," Angelus said coolly and rose his eyebrows. So this is what you do in the evening.

She made her face blush harder as she pushed her hair out of her face.

"Eh," she said nervously. "Angelus, this is Sp-...I mean William, my boyfriend."

Spike gave her a funny look. She gave him an angry one in return.

"William," she said seriously. "This is Angelus, my new involuntary protege."

"Nice to meet you," Spike said with a dangerous smirk. "We'll meet again..."

Buffy pressed the stake harder into his side as she let out a smile.

"Don't count on it, sweetie," she replied through her teeth. "Angelus and me dn't spend much time together."

"So much better," Spike smugly said.

Buffy rose and made him rise too as she hid the stake with his movements covering hers.

"You should go," she said. "But trust me, we'll finish what we started..."

Spike smiled and disappeared. Buffy stared after him then angrily turned to Angelus.

"So, did you want anything?" she snapped.

Angelus gave her a cold laugh.

"I wouldn't have thought that about you," he said coldly. "What a fool you are. But, after all, what could you expect from a girl who burned down the gym at her old school?"

He turned and disappeared too, whistling, leaving Buffy behind, filled with fury and a muddy wish it had him she'd had to kiss...

-#-#-#-

When he saw that bad peroxide blond touching Buffy, he'd almost exploded. She wasn't his to touch. No one with bad intentions touched her. She was his!

Abruptly he realized what he thought and shook his head. Just tired, Angelus thought. Just tired.

-#-#-#-

Buffy stepped into the library, still trying to wipe the taste of Spike from her mouth.

"Damn," she swore. "Damn Angelus and damned be all his nightly walks in graveyards!"

Giles, Willow and Xander looked up in surprise from their work and looked at her.

"What?" Willow asked, confused.

Buffy gave her a grim smile.

"I met Spike yesterday," she answered harshly. "He had gotten a teenager and drained her. We fought, and he tripped me so we got on top of each other. Then, Angelus chose to come by, and to keep him from suspecting anything, I had to pretend Spike and I were lovers. And by every god in this damned world, this was the first and the last time I kiss a vampire!"

Xander stared at her.

"You kissed Spike?" he exclaimed.

"Yes," Buffy nodded sourly. "Just don't think I'll do it again."

-#-#-#-

Angelus had quit school. The new reached Buffy directly as she came there from Cordelia. He would get his education at home. Apparently his parents were very rich so he could afford private teachers. She guessed she should feel eased, but in truth it made her nervous. Now, he could be anywhere, whenever he wanted. And that wasn't good.

Buffy went trough the day completely tense. It felt like someone watched her every step. But the day was normal, if you didn't count that she didn't check in with Giles. And two o'clock, when her mother slept, she got up, put on a pair of track pants and a black shirt to climb out trough the window, making no noise as she landed in the grass. Then she started to jog towards the closest graveyard.

-#-#-#-

He had followed her every move the whole day and had found nothing unusual. But as she got up two o'clock, put on some cloths, climbed trough the window and easily flipped trough the ground he started to understand it was something weird 'bout this girl. Normal teenagers who almost flunked PE in school didn't get out in the night, suddenly being elite gymnasts.

He got out of his hiding place and started to follow her quietly. She seemed to head for the graveyard, but that couldn't be her goal. So when she easily jumped over the wall between the road and the graveyard, she got him completely by surprise. What in hell would she do in a graveyard in the middle of the night?! She didn't exactly seem to be the type who robbed the graves.

To his surprise, Buffy did nothing. She just sat down on a head stone over a newly made grave and started to play with what seemed to be a thick stick.

"Hurry up!" she muttered to herself. "I don't have all night! I've got thirteen graves left, you know."

What? Who in hell was she talking to? And why was she visiting graves in the middle of the night?

As an answer to his questions, a digging sound was heard from Buffy's feet, and a pale hand came trough the surface, followed by a human.

Angelus felt sick. What in the world was going on?! Now the human was up, and Angelus recognized him as Dan Brooks, a class mate who died yesterday. A dead human?!

His stomach rumbled and he puked in the bushes. Dan turned towards the sound, and Angelus could see a terrifying, twisted face with glowing yellow eyes. Suddenly, he attacked and punched him so he flew into a tree. The air went out of him, and as he tried to breath, he could only watch as the monster closed in to him.

He closed his eyes and waited for his death as the creature bowed down o sink his teeth into his neck... But then, suddenly, the weight disappeared and he heard a crash. Angelus opened his eyes and found himself looking at Buffy, who had just thrown the monster into another tree.

"Haven't your mother told you it's not healthy to eat in the middle of the night?" she scolded the beast.

It crawled to it's feet and attacked her. She easily met him with a hard kick which sent him into the tree again.

"No," she mumbled. "Apparently not."

She got a stick from a pocket and took a few quick steps towards the beast to drive her stick into his chest. The monster exploded into a cloud of dust and Buffy nonchalantly dusted herself off. Then she went over to him with a cold expression on her beautiful face.

"So, Angelus Marciano," she said coldly. "Now you know Sunnyhell isn't such an easy place to live in at night. My advice to you is: go home and forget everything that happened. But don't go out at night alone. Your nightmares can come true. Literally."

Angelus rose and started to go home, leaving Buffy on the graveyard. But one thing was for sure. He wouldn't forget, and he would certainly not do nothing.

-#-#-#-

"So, he saw you with the vampire?" Giles asked.

"Yes," Buffy answered irritatedly. "And Marciano isn't exactly the most trustworthy person in the universe."

"So," a voice drawled from the door. "So that's why I'm here. Interesting."

Buffy slowly turned around with an icy smile on her lips.

"Marciano," she said with a nod. "Giles, you talk. I gotta go to class."

She exited and left Giles behind with Angelus, who put his arrogant smile away, and stepped out of the shadows. He was dressed in black slacks, a white shirt and a black jacket with a thick book in his hand.

"Mr. Giles," he nodded politely.

The watcher rose his eyebrows at his perfect manners. He didn't exactly fit in with what Buffy'd told him. Angelus noticed his look and laughed.

"I have manners, you know," he said disarmingly and looked after Buffy. "It's just that girl. She annoys me for some strange reason. I have a tendency to get rather touchy when she's present."

"So I've noticed," Giles said dryly. "Why are you here, Angelus?"

"Only Angel," Angelus smiled. "My father is also called Angelus, so I have a tendency to associate that name with my father."

"Angel," Giles tested. "Well, why are you here?"

"I'm sure Summers told you bout yesterday," he started. "It didn't take long for me to realize it was a vampire who attacked me. And when you realize that, it isn't hard to understand this city is filled by them after all these 'falls on barbecue forks' and such things. You and Summers fight them. I want to help."

Surprised, Giles looked up at him.

"Why?" he asked. "You should be scared to death."

Angel laughed.

"I admit I was when I first found out that some creatures of the dark existed," he said. "But I've gotten used to it."

Giles frowned.

"What creatures have you stumbled upon?" he asked. "Vampires is the most common. It's strange you don't know 'bout them when you know some tales isn't just tales."

Angel grimaced.

"My brother, Antonio, is a werewolf," he said in a pained voice. "And my mom's a psychic. Do you know how irritating it is to be told I'm going to fall in love with a slayer? I mean, I'm not going to marry a murderer."

Giles hid a smirk. Angel's mother seemed to be a true psychic if Angel just looked at Buffy as he just did. He couldn't wait to see how far the two of them would go before they admitted the attraction playing between them.

"What make you think you could be of any use for us?" he asked. "We're already five in the group. Buffy's a fighter, Willow's a hacker, Cordy and Xander..."

He paused as he tried to remember what they did. Then he gave up.

"...tries to help," he continued, "and I'm into mythology, history and such. I research the creatures we stumble upon."

Angel nodded.

"I can fight," he said. "And I've studied mythology and history since I was in elementary school. Plus I can read and speak Latin, Greek, Gaelic, Italian and Romani fluent."

"How?" Giles asked curiously. "I've never met any teenager who speak more than two languages fluently.

Angel laughed.

"I learned Greek in my last school while studying Greek mythology," he said. "Latin I learned when I was in a catholic school. Mom's from Ireland, dad's from Italy and is a gypsy who didn't want to be a gypsy. Not hard. I've heard the three languages all the time since I was a little boy."

Giles gave him a genuine smile. He really liked this boy. And if he could fight, he would be a valuable member of the group, especially as he spoke two languages he didn't speak himself. But they had to be able to trust him.

"I would gladly make you a part of this," he said seriously. "But I have to know, can I trust you to keep quiet about this and not betray us?"

"Yes," Angel said calmly. "I swear by God I will not betray you.

Giles nodded, satisfied.

"Good," he said. "Then there's a few things you should know. Sit down, Angel. This will take a little while."

Angel obeyed, and Giles started to talk.

"Into every generation, a Chosen One is born," he started, knowingly leaving the word 'slayer' out. "She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. That one is Buffy. She was born to fight the vampires. We are just her helpers. Since the beginning, there's been a watcher for every Chosen. He educates her in the art of killing vampires and teaches her bout the forces she's fighting. I'm Buffy's watcher."

Angel nodded.

"I understand," he said. "Even if it's hard to believe, I know it's true."

"Buffy was called to be the Chosen when she was fifteen," Giles continued. "Then she lived in Los Angeles. Immediately, she was drawn into a war between the vampires and the humans. The ´vampire master, Lothos, was going to rise, and then the world would be doomed. With the help of her watcher then, Merrick, and her boyfriend Pike, they defeated him. But it cost them. Merrick died, and soon also Pike went away."

"When she came here, she was determined to forget all about vampires and the darkness to be a normal girl. But no, she'd gone to live on a hellmouth, the natural portal between hell and earth. And she got into another fight with a master. Accidentally, two of her friends got to know about her secret identity and they started to help her. And with the help of them, we managed to kill the master."

"After that, it was calm in Sunnydale for awhile, but then two of the Master's sired children came into time. Spike and Drusilla. Two extremely evil vampires with an enormous strength. It's them we're fighting now."

Angel frowned.

"Didn't Buffy speak about a Drusilla when she talked with her boyfriend?" he wondered aloud.

Giles smiled as he noticed Angel's slip up.

"It was Spike you met with Buffy," he told him. "They'd been fighting when you came into the game. So Buffy pretended Spike was her boyfriend so you wouldn't suspect anything."

A satisfied look flashed over Angel's face, so fast Giles wasn't sure he saw it. Then his face became neutral once again.

"I wanted to give you this," he said camly and handed him the book he carried.

Giles took it and looked at it. To his surprise it was one of the existing two copies of 'Niahwarhar Syrphetighy', the Demon Prophesies.

"Were did you get this?" he exclaimed. "This is one of the two copies existing of this book, and the other's in hell."

Angel smiled sadly.

"Family secret," he answered. "But I've got to go. When can I meet the others?"

"Come tonight at eight," Giles proposed. "I'll see to everyones here."

Angel nodded and headed towards the door.

"Bye," he called back. "See you tonight!"

Then he disappeared, leaving a grinning Giles behind. He couldn't wait to see Buffy's face when she found out Angel was a part of the gang.


	2. Part Two

A black, open convertible turned onto the courtyard in front of the big Victorian house a few miles outside Sunnydale. The door of the car opened, and a tall young man with dark hair and chocolate eyes stepped out of it. As if he of some reason wanted to bring out his dark appearance he wore a pair of black slacks and a tight black t-shirt.

He arrogantly went up the stairs to the door and punched in a code on the pad next to the door. With a quiet click the door opened and he stepped into a sunny hall with high windows and marble floor. Angel threw the car keys on a nearby table and opened a door to go enter an enormous living room, decorated with soft green colors. The walls were decorated with family portraits and his gaze immediately went to the biggest. It showed a little boy with shoulder-length dark brown hair and a smile on his lips.

"Cal," he whispered sadly.

As if the word itself was a spell, his thoughts were drawn to that terrible night so long ago, the night he had tried to forget for the past twelve years.

_Angel opened his eyes and happily jumped out of his bed. He threw himself over to his twin brother Caliam and woke him up._

_"It's morning!" he exclaimed when Caliam woke up._

_His twin laughed and jumped out his bed too. Then they ran together down the stairs and into the living room where they came to an abrupt stop. In the middle of the room, a giant Christmas tree was standing, decorated with red, blue and yellow orbs and glittering garlands with a sparkling gold star on top. But the fact which caught the little boys' attention was all the gifts beneath the tree._

_Angel turned and skipped up the stairs again and into the bedroom of his parents. Then he climbed into the bed and shook his mother to wake her up._

_"Mom, Mom!" he delightedly exclaimed. "Santa has been here!"_

_His mother smiled sleepily at him and pushed a red strand of hair out of her face._

_"That's great!" she said warmly. "Where did you leave Cal?"_

_"He stayed downstairs," Angel explained. "Hurry up, Mom! Dad, wake up! You have to come look! There's thousands of Christmas presents."_

_His mother laughed._

_"Then you, Cal, Toni and Steph have to have been very nice this year," she commented. "Come on, little one, let's go wake your siblings. And if you're a good boy, you may get to open a gift before lunch too."_

_Angel looked at her with sparkling eyes._

_"I'm good," he promised. "Can we go now?"_

_His mother pulled on her dressing gown and took his hand. They went out of the room and into the corridor outside and started to go towards his big sister Stephanie's room a little bit away when a petrifying scream was heard from down stairs. At the same time an incredible pain ripped Angel's body and he fell to the floor._

_"Mom!" he cried. "What's going on?"_

_She worriedly looked at him and hugged him tightly to herself._

_"I don't know, honey," she said softly. "Wait here for Mom, Angel, and I'll go see what's going on."_

_Angel nodded and curled himself to a ball in a corner while his mother quietly started to go down the stairs. He heard how she silently tipped around on her toes down there, looking into all the rooms. When a floorboard creaked he knew she was outside the living room. Suddenly he heard his mother make a quiet sob._

_"No!" she exclaimed. "Cal!"_

_Forgetting his mother's order to stay, he started to run down the stairs. What had happened to Cal? Why did mom scream? He didn't understand! Mom was laying on the doorstep to the room, sleeping. Confused, he went over to her and shook her._

_"Mom?" he asked. "What happened?"_

_When she didn't answer him, he rose and went into the living room to look for his twin brother._

_"Caliam?" he called and started to walk towards the Christmas tree._

_He rounded the couch and stopped. Caliam was laying on the floor, sleeping. Next to him a big present lay, opened, and something red and sticky, similar to the tomato soup his mother made for them to eat, was everywhere. Angel went to his brother and fell to his knees next to him and shook him._

_"Caliam," he said. "Wake up! Mother is asleep, and I can't wake her up."_

_He continued to shake him, until a voice interrupted him._

_"Angel?" his fathers voice said, strangely thick. "Come here."_

_Angel looked up and looked at his dad standing in the door. He was pale-faced and his hair still disheveled after his sleep._

_"Dad," Angel said, confused. "Mom and Cal are sleeping, and they don't wake up when I try to wake them."_

_His dad swallowed._

_"They'll wake up soon," he said comfortingly. "Come to daddy now."_

_Angel nodded and went over to his dad who lifted him into his arms and carried him up the stairs to his and Cal's room._

_"Wait here," his dad said seriously. "Steph and Toni come soon as well. You won't go out from this room, no matter what. Do you understand?"_

_Angel nodded and his father disappeared from the room to come back with his big sister and brother. Then he went out again as sirens were heard coming towards the house._

Angel was abruptly pulled back into reality as a scream was heard and a red headed whirlwind flew into his arms.

"Uncle Angel!" a light girl voice called.

He broke out in a huge smile.

"Deidre!" he smiled and hugged her. "Hi!"

The tiny eight year old hugged him enthusiastically.

"Where did you leave Steph?" he wondered.

"Mom's in the kitchen," she explained proudly. "She said that she would make something yummy for us to eat tonight."

Angel rose and took her hand.

"Then I guess we're going to the kitchen to see what she is cooking for us," he laughed, "so we don't get food poisoned."

Deidre laughed at him.

"I told her the same thing," she told him, "but Mom just told me to get out of the kitchen. And I have to do as she says."

Angel smirked.

"Well," he said mischievously. "She can certainly not get me out of the kitchen if I don't want to. Especially as it's my kitchen."

Deidre laughed and started to skip next to him.

"Let's go to Mom!" she said.

-#-#-#-

Giles admitted to himself he didn't like having to do what he did, he really liked Angel Marciano, but experience had taught him that it was better to do this now than to be betrayed later. Therefore he called a contact of his and asked him to get Angelus Marciano checked out. It didn't take long before Jenny Calendar entered the library with a stack of papers in her hands.

"This came by fax a few minutes ago," she told him. "Where can I put them?"

Giles smiled at her.

"You can out them on the table," he told her. "I knew they were coming."

Jenny gave him a smile.

"OK," she agreed. "I hope you haven't forgotten our date tonight?"

"No," Giles answered and blushed. "The movies at nine. I haven't forgotten."

"Good," Jenny said. "I'm looking forward to it. See you tonight at the movies then, Rupert.

She exited the library with Giles staring after her with a love sick glint in his eyes.

"That woman...," he started, then shook his head to pick up the first paper.

An hour later, he relaxed and took off his glasses to look into the empty air in front of him. Angel had experienced much in his young life. More than anyone should have to. His identical twin had died when they were six years old. The other brother, Antonio, had almost killed him when he first changed under the full moon. The parents had had an on-off relationship his whole life. Married, divorced. Married, divorced. Married for the moment. He had been placed in a boarding school when he was eleven. Was harassed at school. It was strange he'd turned out as well as he had.

His whole family seemed to be unlucky. When he'd looked back in time, he'd found surprisingly many deaths. Even if it hadn't been easy to find anything at all. The mother, Maeve, had lived her whole life in a little village in Ireland until she met her future husband, Alessandro, who was born in Italy and was a gypsy who had dissociated himself from his clan.

Angel came from a quite strange family. Nine years ago, his sister had been raped and become pregnant with a girl, Deidre, who lived with her mother and Angel in the family home outside Sunnydale.

Angel. His record from his old schools showed he was a smart kid, even if he was rebellious. In his last school, he had been the leader of a gang which terrorized the whole school into order and peacefulness in a violent way. The few examples he had to set had been very educating, the victims had been brutally beaten, but never killed. And no one told anyone.

The teachers didn't know from the start, and when they did, they didn't care. After all, it just meant some peace and quiet. Until they came to understand the rules applied them too. Then they quickly expelled Angel and the game. And to make things even worse, the school was the one with most criminal activity in the United States.

And that was only the things he'd done. When he came to Angel's sick journals, things got really weird. Well, not that he was over six feet tall, was eighteen years old or had chocolate brown eyes, but another fact. He hadn't been sick since he was six years old, not even a cold, had never gotten so badly beaten he had to go to a hospital, not even after the incident with his werewolf brother. And after what his teachers said, there had been a few problems with accidents and strange rashes. But no explanation was given, besides he sometimes had low halts of iron in his blood. He had a just as strange record as Buffy.

-#-#-#-

Willow entered the library ten minutes to eight with Oz to wait for the person Giles wanted them to meet. Cordy, Xander and Giles were already there, but not Buffy. Not to surprising really. She never arrived ontime.

The red headed girl sat down by the computer to make some time go by. She was going to hack into FBI:s mainframe. It was two days since she'd done it last, so they should have updated their security by now.

Exactly eight o'clock she was in, and someone knocked at the library door. Willow turned off the computer and turned towards the door. At the same time Giles opened the door to greet the newcomer.

When she recognized the person, she inhaled sharply. It was Angelus Marciano, dressed in the black slacks, white, tight t-shirt and a black jacket with his hair spiked and a mischievous sparkle in his brown eyes.

"Welcome!" Giles said. "Come in, I'll introduce you to the others."

"Thank you," Angel said politely and entered the room. "Is Summers here?"

Giles shook his head.

"She's patrolling," he answered.

The watcher made a gesture towards an empty chair.

"Sit down," he offered.

Angelus smiled and sat down in the chair next to Oz. Giles turned to the group.

"Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Oz," Giles said seriously. "This is Angel."

He was greeted by nods and smiles from everyone, and acknowledged them with a nod.

"Angel," Giles said easily. "The red headed girl is Willow, the other girl is Cordelia. The boy with the red hair is Oz, and the other is Xander."

Angel smiled at them.

"Nice to meet you," he said in warm voice.

"So," Giles said. Now that everyone know each other, we'll get to the point. Angel know about the slayer and vampires."

The group got silent, and suddenly everyone was clearly interested.

"Will he betray us?" Willow asked neutrally.

Giles shook his head.

"No," he said. "Instead he'll be one of us. He'll be a very useful member of our group."

"So," Xander said with clear hostility. "What will he do? Fetch the books for us?"

Angel looked at him.

"I've been trained in martial arts since I was a little boy," he said blandly. "My family has had too many accidents trough the years. And they're to many to be coincidences. Everyone in my family is trained in self-defense, with weapons and without. Yet too many 'accidents' happens. My father is in exile, my twin was murdered, only six years old. My sister was raped and became pregnant, my brother is a werewolf. And all of us have been attacked several times. It's kinda clear someone is out after us. So we have to know how to defend ourselves. To kill."

Horrid expressions were on the faces of the gang.

"I-I didn't know," Xander said weakly.

Angel shook his head sadly.

"I don't care," he said. "What's done is done and never come back."

Willow felt a deep compassion for the young man before and his family. To go through that and still manage to live a somewhat normal life was admirable. But something in his words disturbed her. The two last words.

"Kill?" she exclaimed.

Angel's face suddenly went blank.

"Yes," he said tonelessly. "Kill. I've killed. Many times. Everyone in my family has killed. Death is a part of our daily life. And it's all for survival. We don't kill, we die."

Willow stared at him.

"How can you kill?" she whispered. "Take the life of a human being?"

He shrugged.

"It's hard," he said. "I try not to. My soul was killing me over those I'd killed the first times, but now, I'm just closing up. To kill doesn't scare me anymore. But it's still hard. Their faces hunt me at night, accusing me. But I'll live. I always do."

He straightened up, the movement taking their chocked silence away. But she could still feel the chock from hearing that he'd killed humans. Even if it was to stay alive. She didn't know how to take that. And the most horrid thing, was that being a slayerette, she would probably come in such a position that she had to kill someone in time. But her mind turned away from the possibility. Even if she deep down knew there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"I have to go," Angel said suddenly. "I don't want to be here when Summers come here."

A cold voice answered the comment from above.

"To late," Buffy said coolly. "I'm already here."

A shadow stepped out from the shadows by the stacks and transformed into the beautiful blond slayer.

"So," she said. "The three 'why's. Why is there a meeting, why didn't you tell me, and why is Marciano here?"

Buffy gave him a disgusted look that somehow managed to sneak a peak at his nicely advertised physique.

"He's one in the team now," Cordy said, studying her nails. "He'll patrol with you now, I guess."

"What?" Buffy exclaimed. "I won't work with him!"

Angelus just grimaced.

Willow smiled at the silly performance. It was obvious they didn't like each other, but it was also very clear they really liked each other. Buffy and Angel was the most unlikely couple she knew, yet she had a feeling it would be the two of them someday.

"Oh yes," Giles said grimly. "Your mother is already suspecting that something is going on, and if you're two patrolling, it will cut down on the time. Look at it as a little extra sleep."

Buffy pouted.

"OK," she said. "But don't think I'll like it."

Willow frowned.

"Why are you here anyway?" she asked. "I thought you were patrolling."

She nodded.

"Yes," she said. "But I finally managed to find Spike and Dru's lair."

"How did you manage that?" Xander wondered. "We've been searching for weeks, and have found nothing!"

Buffy laughed coldly.

"I took a little more direct approach," she said. "The vamp I questioned thought it sounded better to talk and get staked than taking a bath in holy water and then have a free hour of sunbathing."

"You're sure he told you the truth?" Xander asked. "Vampires don't speak the truth to often, or so I've noticed."

Buffy gave him a murderous look.

"Believe it or not," she said sarcastically, "but I did check it out. They are in the warehouse by the beach."

"How many are they?" Angel asked nervously.

She ignored him.

"There's about a hundred vamps in there," she said, "plus Spikey and Dru. Our best chance to get 'em is under the day when they're trapped. If we block the sewers, we've got them."

The seven in the library looked at each other and smiled.

"Tomorrow it is," Giles said seriously. "We meet at Buffy's when her mother has left the house. Me and Jenny will make sure you aren't missed in school."

"OK," the gang said as one.

-#-#-#-

Buffy sat up, suddenly awake. She glanced at the clock beside the bed. Seven. Time to rise. The slayer rose to take a quick shower and dress in a pair of black leather pants and a skintight black shirt to put her hair up in a pony tail.

When she heard the door close behind her mother, she started to pick out all weapons she had hidden. Stakes, crosses, knives, an ax, holy water, two swords and a crossbow to carry them to the living room and put them down on the table. As Willow, Xander, Cordy and Oz arrived, she was just looking through the kitchen for garlic.

"Hi!" Willow said. "What are you looking for?"

Buffy smiled.

"Garlic," she told them. "But mom seems to have hidden it well..."

"Don't bother!" Xander smiled and held up a bag for her to see. "I have it covered, even if the lady in the shop wondered why we were making garlic pie in school."

Buffy rose and closed the cabinet door to enter the living room.

"Did you see Giles or Marciano on the way?" she asked. "We have to get going soon."

Cordy nodded.

"Giles is on his way," she said, "and someone looking suspiciously much like Angel was leaving the cutest little girl I've ever seen at kindergarten. They should be here within twenty minutes."

Buffy frowned. Kindergarten? Marciano didn't exactly seem like the type who left their younger siblings at kindergarten. But it wasn't like it could be his own kid.

Someone knocked at the door, and she went to open. And outside Marciano waited, dressed in leather and a T-shirt. In his hand he held a long thin box and in the other some keys.

"Come in," she said shortly.

He entered her home and put the box down on the table. Then he turned towards Buffy.

"Giles is coming," he said neutrally. "He asked me to tell you to arm yourselves and get ready. We will leave immediately when he arrives."

Buffy nodded.

"OK," she said coldly. "The weapons are on the table. Take what you want."

Angel shrugged. Then he gestured towards the table.

"Giles asked me to ask you to arm yourself with the thing in the box," he said. "It is supposed to have belonged to one of your late slaying sisters who stole it from some demon."

He turned his back to her, but she noted he was very tense. Irritated over even noticing, she shook it off as nervousity over the coming battle.

Buffy went over to the box, and with a few simple moves she opened it. Inside, something rested in old, blue velvet, and she carefully picked it up and put it down on another table. She put the velvet away, and gasped as she saw what it had hidden.

It was a long, thin, double-edged sword, forged in excellent steal, decorated with blue crystals and gold. As she took it into her hand, she couldn't help but noticed how well it fitted in her hand. She let it cut trough the air, and it sang as it moved with grace before her. It seemed to be very well-balanced, and as she tested it in more difficult patterns, it followed her easily.

"What a sword!" she mumbled.

"Yes," Giles agreed from behind her. "It is."

Giles had been taken completely by surprise as Angel had brought the sword to him. He had thought the sword had been lost for centuries. But then, suddenly, it appeared with Angelus Marciano.

Angel had explained that it had been one of the few things his father had received from his old tribe. And now he wanted to give it to Buffy. Apparently, his mother had told him the sword belonged to the chosen one, the only one who could wield it. Which naturally got him thinking about Buffy.

But, as Angel also pointed out, it was very possible that Buffy never would accept something from him. So they had agreed to say it was from Giles. And now, when he saw it in Buffy's hands, he had to say it belonged with her. He'd done the right thing.

Buffy turned around with the sword in her hand.

"Giles!" she exclaimed with shining eyes. "Where did you get this? It's great! Thank you so much!"

Giles smiled at her, but his eyes didn't rest at her. They were glued to Angel. He was standing behind Buffy, grinning. But his grin never reached his eyes. They were cold and dark of anger, and to a little part also pain.

The watcher felt uneasy. With all that fury inside, Angel was lethal. If it was let loose in the wrong way, he could turn into a monster. He could almost see his own death in the eyes of the young man.

He swallowed.

"Shall we get going?" he asked.

-#-#-#-

They split up as they arrived to the warehouse. Willow and Cordelia were placed in the sewers to block an eventual escape there. Xander and Oz took the back door, Giles and Angel the front door. Buffy would take the place from the ceiling after opening holes for the daylight. Then she would attack Spike and Drusilla as their vamps were busy somewhere else. The plan was simple and lethal. It couldn't go wrong. Quickly, they took their places.

Angel stood as a statue in the shadows with Giles hiding by his feet and counted silently in his head. Soon. 5...4...3...2...1...

"Now!" he said to Giles, and they ran to the doors, quickly opened them and eliminated the guards.

That gave them about two seconds to get oriented. The warehouse was pretty large, and very dark. Vampires covered every inch of the building, and Spike and Drusilla had their own little free zone in the middle. He didn't get to see more before the vamps attacked. Angel started to swing his sword with grace and lethal skill as Giles started to take out his opponents with his crossbow.

-#-#-#-

Xander and Oz waited for the sounds of battle in the dark building. Oz nervously fingered the ax in his hand, while Xander tried to get the stakes and bottles with holy water he wore to lie somewhat comfortable. Suddenly, the distinct noise of steel meeting steel was heard. The two young men tensed, then sprung up to take their places in the battle.

-#-#-#-

Buffy was waiting on the roof, looking down at the place below through a small hole in the roof. So far, everything was calm. Marciano and Giles hadn't attacked yet. She silently noted where Spike and Dru were, then the room below exploded into a blur of motion. Giles and Marciano stormed into the place trough the main entrance, closely followed by Xander and Oz trough the back door.

She noted that the vamps seemed to be taken completely by surprise. It took seconds before they even formed some kind of defense, and then, quite a few of them had already died. Buffy let herself get a second glance at the battle, then started to crash the roof windows.

-#-#-#-

Spike kissed Dru passionately. It was always nice to have some sex before sleeping for the day, especially as they had shared a hot-blooded meal.

He was so engaged in his own pleasure, that it took fully five seconds before he noted the hostiles. Spike felt his face morph as he angrily looked out over the local. It was the sidekicks of the damned slayer, together with her damned new boyfriend.

"Attack!" he ordered his followers, as if they had the brains of a dog, which they probably had, but who cared?

Then he let a cruel smile play over his lips.

"Kill them," he said with a grin. "But leave the guy in leather to me. I want to take care of him personally."

Drusilla smiled at him from next to him.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked with a pale smile.

Spike shrugged.

"Don't know," he said. "You're the psychic."

He glanced at the dark haired young man battling the vampires and grinned.

"But I think so," he added.

-#-#-#-

Buffy destroyed the last window and watched with satisfaction as three vampires were touched by the sun and screaming turned into smoking ashes. Then she turned her attention towards her friends.

She immediately spotted Oz and Xander, fighting back to back, easily killing the vamps attacking them, and soon also Giles, who guarded the main entrance and had killed quite a few vamps, judging by all the ashes spread around him.

But it took her some time to find Marciano. He was surrounded by the majority of the vamps and fought desperately with a lethal skill. He had dusted a large number of vamps, but she could see he was in danger as the vamps had recognized him as the main danger.

Immediately, instinct took over, and the only thing she could think of was protecting Angel. Without even noticing her little slip up in her thoughts, she easily flipped to the ground, taking her place beside him, sword drawn.

"Need some help?" she smiled.

Angel gave her a grin.

"Why not?" he said nonchalantly.

They placed themselves next to each other to start move with fast, synchronized motions to drive the vamps back.

-#-#-#-

Drusilla looked worried. This wasn't as she had imagined it at all! The Slayer had reunited with her friends, and now she was fighting gracefully next to Angelus. Together, they were a deadly team, fast and ruthless, and their opponents disappeared like butter in the sun.

"Spikey," Dru said playfully. "I think it's time to do that sightseeing tour to the masters old lair you promised me..."

Spike turned to her with a tense smile.

"Sure, why not?" he said with a strange grin.

He quickly ordered a few of his minions to follow them, and then dived down into the sewers with Drusilla, just to be drenched in holy water coming from the two girls in the slayer's team.

"Damn," he swore as they had managed to slip away to the warehouse again.

He looked around for an escape path, and spotted Buffy a few feet away, free from vamps, looking out over the few remaining vamps. With an evil grin, he grabbed her and put a knife at her throat. A little old-fashioned maybe, but effective.

"Stop!" he called. "If you don't want little Buffy to die, of course."

Everyone stopped fighting, and the undead creatures quickly made their way towards Spike.

"What do you want?" Angel asked hoarsely and looked worriedly at the slayer.

'Unwilling protegee', 'not around', huh, don't think so. Spike almost laughed out loud at the absurd thought. It was easy to see that Angelus and Buffy were friends, and more than that.

Spike looked at him, still in his game face.

"Take your friends from the sewers," he said grimly. "Then I want free passage out for me and Dru."

Giles quickly went over to the entrance, and said something. Soon the two girls came climbing up and joined the others. Spike carefully moved towards it, without letting Buffy go.

"Let her go now," Angel said coldly as he reached the entrance. "We won't follow you."

Spike shrugged, and threw the Slayer onto the floor, then quickly disappeared to safety underground.

-#-#-#-

To see Buffy being held hostage made Angel petrified. His heart stopped beating, and he was filled by an instant fear of her disappearing from his life. Without even understanding it, he realized something in his heart. The young girl who irritated him so much, wasn't someone he hated. It was quite the opposite.

As if from another planet, he heard himself buying her life, without letting her frightened green eyes go with his own. And when Spike pushed her from him as if she were some piece of junk, he was at her side in an instant to take her into his arms.

-#-#-#-

Buffy held her breath as Spike took the knife from her throat and in the next instant, she flew trough the air as a glove and fell to the floor. Involuntary, she started to sob, and as a pair of warm, tender arms lifted her, she didn't resist. They made her feel safe.

Soft, calming words, whispered in a melodic, beautiful language made her realize it was Angel, and she desperately clung to his body, as his safe arms held her close to him.

"Angel," she said finally, and looked into his chocolate eyes.

A faint smile was born on his lips as he gently pushed her golden hair from her face.

"Buffy," he said softly.

-#-#-#-

Expressionless, Oz watched as Angel took Buffy into his arms, but inside, he was happy for them. Those to belonged to each other. They held each other desperately, while tears ran down Buffy's cheeks. Soothing words sprung from Angel's lips, and he didn't need to understand them to know what they meant.

As they finally parted, he knew that they to some part accepted their feelings. And as if she wanted to seal that decision, Buffy spoke Angel's name for the second time in her life.

Then their lips met in their first kiss.


	3. Part Three

Cordy watched with interest as Angel and Buffy kissed. She had only seen people kiss like that at the movies before. Sure, she'd kissed boys herself, but not like that. Judging from what she could see, their kisses involved lots of tongues, nibbling and sucking. And that wasn't even mentioning their hands.

She was almost disappointed when they parted to stare at each other with a mix of surprise and fear. But she soon changed her opinion as they flew away from each other as if burned and just stared.

"What...?" Buffy started but then swallowed.

Angel looked at her. "It...," he answered but closed his mouth without finishing.

"Nothing," they decided as one and turned their backs to each other.

Oh, she'd read about this in her romance novels. Denial of their attraction. She wondered what would happen. To her dismay they just went in different directions to continue their childish denial. Or not... If this continued as in her novels, a fight of jealousy would follow soon. And she would help arranging it.

Cordy immediately followed the petite blond to suggest a few acceptable boyfriends...

-#-#-#-

Buffy strode through the corridors of the school, utterly confused. She didn't understand. Angel had kissed her and she had tolerated it, even liked it. They had made-out! She couldn't believe it! Angel - no, she quickly corrected herself - Marciano, was someone she disliked. Wasn't he?

Suddenly she caught the sound of someone in heels hurrying towards her and turned around. It was Cordy, breathing hard after running after her, but still without a hair out of place. Only Cordelia...

"What do you want?" Buffy snapped.

Cordy gave her a blinding smile.

"I just wanted to talk with you," she said sweetly. "Do you remember when you told me you were the queen of your last school?"

Buffy nodded doubtfully.

"Yeah," she replied. "So?"

Cordy laughed.

"You know how to get status," she said in her best airhead voice. "And if you only updated your clothes, hair and communicating skills, maybe even got yourself a nice boyfriend, you would become more popular. Then the whole not being too social thing would be out of the way and your mother would think you had stopped with the drugs or whatever she thinks you're doing."

Buffy listened with half her mind. But when she caught the word boyfriend, she started to pay attention. If she used some time to improve her social life, maybe she would get her mind off of Angel.

She gave Cordy a sudden smile.

"Why not?" she exclaimed. "Let's go shopping! Dad gave me an American Express I've never used. It's about time I do."

Cordy smiled a genuine smile.

"Yeah," she said. "Let's go shopping."

-#-#-#-

When they returned to Buffy's house a couple of hours later, both girl carried several shopping bags and packages. They carried them to her room, then sat down completely exhausted on Buffy's bed.

"I thought the eyes of that expedite would pop out when you handed her the card," Cordy laughed.

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "And when you gave her another..."

Both girls broke out in helpless laughter. When they'd calmed down, they looked at each other.

"Time to clean the wardrobe," Buffy sighed.

"Yes," Cordy confirmed. "But then it's getting more fun. "We'll go to Bronze in your new clothes and search for potential boyfriends."

Buffy's gaze lightened and she started to sort out her wardrobe.

-#-#-#-

Riley Finn was a handsome man and knew it. He dressed right, had a good body and the self-assurance of someone who knew how to handle himself. Girls usually flocked around him and this particular night was no exception. Seated at the bar, he kept a look-out for tonight's entertainment while keeping up a conversation with the girl next chair over.

Suddenly, a stir began at the entrance, and he glanced that way. It was Cordelia Chase, the queen of the Sunnydale high, who arrived dressed in a very short, black dress with long arms and a deep cut, leaving her back bare except from her long hair. But the one that immediately caught his interest, was the girl at her side. A petite blond, dressed in a white dress with spaghetti straps and a tight skirt showing off her tanned legs. Interesting.

Riley got to his feet and started towards her.

-#-#-#-

Buffy noted with satisfaction that the guests at the Bronze liked her new appearance. She let herself be carried away and her body easily fell back into it's old behavior as the school's undisputed leader and diva. A dashing, supercilious smile played on her lips and hereyes sparkled as she looked out over the crowd. People immediately started to gather around her, hoping for a smile or even a dance. But with a smile, she dismissed them all and took her place at the best table with Cordelia, who grinned at her.

"You're good!" she said. "Once a diva, always a diva. You'll see your popularity boom over the night."

Buffy shuddered.

"No thank you," she said. "If you think you're a diva now, you should see me in LA. Old Buffy would have made you look like a nerd. I think I prefer to remain as a mix between pre-Merrick and post-Merrick."

"Watch out," Cordy suddenly whispered. "Riley Finn is heading this way."

Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Right," she said. "As if Mr. Popularity would give us a second look."

Cordy shook her head.

"No really," she said. "He's coming this way right now. Whom of us do you think he's interested in?"

She got her answer as Riley asked Buffy to dance. Cordelia sighed heavily but winked at Buffy as they headed off. Always the blond...

-#-#-#-

Angel jerked awake as his phone started to ring. A glance at his watch told him it was near midnight. Only an hour ago, he'd come back from a business dinner with his parents. Not that his thoughts had been with the contract his parents wanted to make, no they had been on Buffy. What had happened the previous day? All he could remember was a strong instinct to protect, then he suddenly was on the floor tongue-tied with Buffy. And he had quite liked it.

He shook his head and picked up the phone as it rang for the fifth time.

"Angelus Marciano," he said tiredly into the phone.

"Angel?" he heard Giles say. "There is a gathering at the library. Pick up Buffy at the Bronze and come."

Suddenly awake, he started to get out of the bed.

"OK," he said. "I'm on my way."

He put down the phone and looked around for some clothes. Quickly, he pulled on a pair of tight black jeans and a red silk shirt before taking his car keys from the table next to the door. He sped through the corridors, making a quick stop at the living room, where his sister was.

"I've got to go, Steph," he said quickly.

Steph looked up and smiled.

"OK," she said. "Don't wake Deidre."

Angel smiled.

"No," he promised. "I take the Mercedes. See you tomorrow!"

His sister nodded and he hurried down the stairs. Six seconds later, the front door closed behind him and a car started outside.

The streets in Sunnydale were empty, and no one noticed him speeding on his way through town. A few blocks before Bronze, he slowed down, and when he came to the entrance, he stopped and jumped out of the car without bothering to take the keys, he knew no thief with any brains would take a car with a license plate reading 'Angelus'.

He strode through the doors and looked around for Buffy. It didn't take long to spot her, as she slow dancing in the middle of the floor with a good-looking man.

-#-#-#-

Buffy was uncomfortable with the way this was heading. Riley was a nice guy and all, but it didn't feel right. Not like it had with Angel.

Suddenly she felt a cool hand on her shoulder and she turned around, tugging gently away form Riley. It was Angel, dressed in tight jeans and a red shirt, with a curiously tight expression on his face. She didn't know how, but she would bet her allowance he was pissed off.

"Angel!" she said carefully. "Hi."

He gave her a cold look.

"Giles want to see us in the library," he said coldly.

Not without relief, but with a weird feeling in her stomach, she turned to Riley and forced a smile.

"I have to go, Riley," she said with an apologetic smile. "Perhaps another time?"

Without waiting for an answer, she tagged after Angel, who was already at the exit. Outside, she found him waiting with his car already running. Quickly, she jumped in beside him. Without a word, he tore away and started to drive towards school.

The mood in the car was tense, and not so little threatening. Buffy could still feel a burning anger under the calm surface, and it made her twitchy. But in the end, she had to ask the inevitable question.

"Angel," she said carefully.

His handsome face turned into a grimace.

"So it's not 'Marciano' anymore," he said tightly. "'Angel'. Maybe I should start calling you 'Buff'."

She ignored the taunt and looked at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked with enough worry to surprise herself.

The car skidded as Angel winced and the wheels screeched over the asphalt as he steered to the side of the road and he turned to her, letting his anger show in his face.

"Wrong?" he said coldly. "Wrong? I meet you just a day after we've shared a kiss after a battle and you're slow-dancing with another guy!"

She stared at him, without being able to speak a word, her feelings battling inside her.

"I'll tell you what's wrong!" he shouted. "I've loved you every since the first time I saw you, and one day, one day after I've finally gotten to be with you, I find you in the arms of another! How do you you think it feels, huh? How do you think it feels?"

Tears ran down her cheeks at his words, and the hard grip he had around her upper arms. Angrily she looked at him and ripped herself loose.

"Love me?" she said silently. "I don't think so. I'm sixteen years old!. I've never been with any man. How do you think I feel, being filled by these strange feelings? Do you think it's easy for me?"

The anger disappeared from his face as she huddled up herself into the seat, crying. Softly, he pulled her into his arms and held her. Warmth flowed over her as she felt his hands stroke her back and hair soothingly.

"I'm sorry," he whispered tenderly and held her close to him. "I'm so sorry."

He held her until the tears stopped coming, and longer than that. Time stopped as she lay in his arms, and she felt calm, free.

When she finally sat up, they smiled softly at each other. Suddenly, no words were needed, as they had admitted their feelings. Angel softly took her face into his hands and in the next moment, their lips met in a tender kiss with the curiosity of a newborn love.

-#-#-#-

Drusilla grimaced as she looked at the couple kissing in the car. The slayer didn't deserve happiness, a slayer shouldn't be happy. They were meant to be hunted and eaten. It couldn't be allowed.

Next to her, Spike smiled and took her hand in his.

"Time to destroy their paradise," he said with a grin.

"Yes," Drusilla agreed playfully. "Time to call in the cavalry..."

-#-#-#-

Caliam felt how someone shook him and opened his eyes. It was his brother, Angel.

"It's morning!" he shouted.

Christmas day! Caliam laughed and got out of his bead to run down the stairs into the living room. There were tons of gifts under the tree. Was any of them to him? He noted that Angel had disappeared. He started to go towards the tree as if he was hypnotized. There was a gift with a big etiquette with Donald Duck on, and on that, something were written.

"To Angel and Cal," he slowly spelled out.

Without caring that they weren't permitted to open the gifts until after lunch, he excitedly started to rip the package open. Underneath the wrapping, there was a box, sealed with tape. He ripped it away and opened the big box. And as he did, something huge flew up into his face, and everything went black.

-#-#-#-

When he opened his eyes again, he was laying under a white blanket. Cal sat up and pushed it away. He was in a room, sitting on a table with wheels. There were lots of other tables in the room, all covered by a blanket. Caliam hopped down from the table and went to the table next to his and pulled away the blanket. Underneath, a grown-up lay, completely white in her face.

Suddenly he heard voices from the doorway.

"He should be awake now," a man said. "If you didn't give him too much or too little blood, that is. Dru, I'm only saying this so you know, if you made him a vampire or drained him, I don't want to be in your shoes."

A beautiful laugh rung through the air and a lovely woman with long, dark brown hair stepped into the room, dressed in a deep red dress.

"He's fine, Spike," the woman said. "The blood I gave him wouldn't turn a fly. It would just keep him in a state just a tiny bit from death. But if you want him to stay alive, we have to feed him a pint of blood soon again. Without some of our immortal blood in his veins, he'll die before we want him to. He's awake now, believe me."

A man entered, Spike, with fake blond hair and dressed completely in black.

"You're right," he said with satisfaction. "He's awake. Come to uncle Spike Caliam!"

Caliam gave him a doubtful look and stepped away from him. The woman the man called Dru rolled her eyes.

"You have no idea how to do this," she commented. "Let me take care of this, Spike."

She slowly came towards him.

"Hi Cal," she said softly. "I'm Drusilla. Haven't your father told you about me?"

Caliam nodded.

"You're daddy's grand ma," he said proudly. "It's you on the big picture over the fire place at home."

Dru smiled at him.

"That's right," Cal, she said.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Caliam asked suspiciously.

Spike made a noise suspiciously resembling a strangled laugh. Dru gave him a look which could kill then turned to Caliam once again.

"Yes," she admitted. "But something happened that made me come alive again."

Caliam suddenly understood.

"You're an angel!" he said excitedly. "I've read about you in the Bible."

This time, it was a laugh. Spike stood in the door doubled over from laughter. Even Dru smiled broadly.

"Kind of," she amusedly said. "It's me and Spike who will take care of you now."

"Why?" Caliam wondered as he took Dru's offered hand.

"Your mom and dad made me a favor a while ago," she said grimly. "This is my way of repaying them."

She lead him out of the door after Spike and out on a parking lot outside. It was night, and a black car was parked there alone. Caliam stared as Spike stepped into it.

"Are we going in that one?" he asked devotedly.

Dru smiled.

"Exactly," she smiled. "Come!"

She stepped into the car next to Spike then she offered him her hand. Caliam skipped to her and placed himself in her knee. Then they drove away.

-#-#-#-

Caliam stepped into the house, round-eyed and hand in hand with Dru and Spike. It was huge with a high ceiling. In one corner, a flight of steps made the entry to the second floor, and huge candelabras lit the place up.

There were people there, not many, but most of them seemed to read old, dusty books for some reason.

"Are we going to live here?" he asked sceptically.

"Yes," Dru answered. "Come, I'll show you your room."

She started to go towards the stairs, but stopped as a bald guy with weird red eyes lead a scrawny boy to her.

"I saved one for you, child," he said. "As a reward for the boy."

Dru grinned.

"Thank you, master," she said. "I'm a little hungry."

She grabbed the boy, and suddenly, her face changed. It turned to a hideous mass of wrinkles and ridges, appearing from nowhere as her eyes turned yellow. But most importantly, her teeth grew as she bowed down and bit the boy in the neck.

Frightened, Caliam backed away, into the wall as disgusting sounds came from Dru. She ate the boy, like a vampire! Suddenly, she let the boy go, and wiped the blood from her face.

"That was delicious," she said. "Young and healthy."

She turned to Caliam and offered him her hand. He pressed himself to the wall. Dru frowned at him.

"What?" she said confusedly.

Cal stared at him.

"You killed him!" he accused her. "You're a vampire!"

"Oh, that," Dru shrugged. "Yes. Do you want to know how I became one?"

Caliam thought about it. She hadn't tried to kill him.

"OK," he said and took her hand. "Vampires are cool! I want to be one too. You know, I saw a movie once..."

-#-#-#-

Cal got up from the bed and dressed. He and Dru had been out stealing clothes last night, so he dressed in his new Levis and a black college shirt. Today, he would be eighteen, and Dru and Spike had promised him a surprise.

Under the twelve years he'd been with them, he'd started to view them as his parents. Sure, he remembered his real parents, but frankly, he didn't care a bit about them.

With a grin he remembered how he had watched one of his human minions rape and hurt his sister a few years ago. Or how he and Spike had managed to catch a werewolf and made it bite his younger brother Antonio.

Dru and Spike were the best! They had taught him how to fight, how to torture. He had even gotten to help them hunt food at day as he still was partly human (even if he had to get blood in his system every now and then). Normally he used his good looks and picked up girls to take to Dru and Spike. It happened that he raped them before that too, he took pleasure in the fear and pain. But he didn't get to hunt with them at night. He guessed it would come in time.

He opened the bedroom door and went down the stairs to the big living room at the bottom. Down there, Spike and Dru waited. Dru smiled happily at him as he came.

"Cal," she said seriously. "It's time."

Caliam almost didn't believe his ears. He would finally get to be turned, finally be able to live forever. But with determination he managed to hold up his expressionless face.

He watched with sparkling eyes as Dru came closer to him. When she was just a few inches from him, she let her face morph. She placed her slender fingers at his shoulder and looked deeply into his eyes.

"Are you sure?" she asked seriously.

He answered without hesitation.

"Yes," he said.

Dru smiled.

"Good," she replied.

Her grip hardened as he felt her sharp fangs penetrate his skin. Cal felt a painful pleasure wash over him as she started do drink, then everything went blank.

-#-#-#-

"Wake up!" a singing voice belonging to Drusilla told him. "It's breakfast!"

A sudden hunger overwhelmed him as he felt the smell of fresh blood wash over him. Tender hands pushed his head towards the life-giving blood and greedily he started to drink.

As he was satisfied, he pulled away, and licked his lips. He looked into Dru's eyes.

"Thanks, Dru," he said seriously with his new face in place.

Dru grinned back.

"Why not thank me in a more...satisfying way?" she proposed with a smile.

Cal smiled back.

"Yeah, why not?" he grinned.

He kissed her hungrily and by that action, he put their relationship away from the mother/son one forever.

-#-#-#-

Caliam looked out over the sleeping city below him and smiled evilly. He had lived in Rome for a few months now, waiting for Dru's ultimate revenge to her ex-family, and his biological one. And now, it was time. Angel was in town, and he had joined the slayer's team. Time for revenge and death.

It had been really...nice...to see Dru again. He had missed her company for the last few months. But now he was here. And the slumbering city didn't have a clue what it would meet the coming week. And not his dear twin or the slayer either.

He abruptly turned around and mounted his black Harley-Davidson to drive down the hill with a neck-breaking speed. Tonight, the slayer would be at the Bronze, or so Dru had told him.l

He parked the bike and gracefully climbed onto the roof to look down at the people below through a window. Below, 'Dingoes ate my baby' plagued the locals at a high volume and the dancefloor was full with people. But his eyes were immediately glued to the copy of himself and the girl in his arms, a beautiful blond his senses told him were the slayer.

Smiling he watched them share a passionate kiss.

"This is promising," he murmured under his breath.


	4. Part Four

"So Spike and Dru have summoned some new supervamp to kill us?" Buffy asked from her place in Angel's lap.

Giles smiled at her verbal short-cut. She had truly become happier during these few days since Angel picked her up at the Bronze. Something had happened that night, something that had changed their relationship completely. They had strolled into the library hand in hand with big, silly grins on their faces. He was glad they had come to an agreement about their relationship, but she could pay attention to someone not named 'Angel' as well...

"Something like that," he said.

"Good!" Buffy said and jumped to her feet. "In that case, I've got to go home. I'm grounded, again, and I have to patrol and manage to get home before mom realizes I'm not in my room."

Angel immediately rose. "I'll accompany you to the door," he said. "It's my turn to baby-sit Deidre, so I have to get home too."

They said their goodbyes and then disappeared into the night.

-#-#-#-

As soon as they got outside the library, Angel grabbed Buffy and kissed her thoroughly. After a few long seconds, he broke the kiss, smiling, and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Good night," he whispered.

Buffy smiled softly, then she disappeared towards the park. Angel looked thoughtfully after her. It was strange how you could feel so much for anyone. He had spent every free moment with her the past two days, and yet he missed her two seconds after she left him.

Angel grinned and shook his head. He wouldn't complain. There weren't many people who met someone to love forever, but he had. Buffy was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He would never allow hurt to touch her.

Whistling, he jumped into his car for the day, a blue BMW, and started to drive home when something suddenly stepped onto the road right in front of him. Panicked, he pushed down the breaks, but with screeching wheels, he drove into the thing with a sickening crunch. It was thrown onto the window, then flew off the car and into the ditch. A terrible pain hit his body and made him double over. Then, it was over.

Angel opened the door and quickly rounded the car to slide down into the ditch to see what he had driven into. Down there, he could make out the dark shadow of something in the limited light from the car.

He reached the bottom and turned the body of a human, laying face-down in the mud.

And himself looking at his own face. Surprised, he fell back on his butt.

"Caliam!" he got out.

The guy's eyes opened, shining yellow in the darkness as his face morphed into that of a vampire.

"Yes," he whispered. "Caliam. How are you my dear brother?"

With a growl he attacked. Angel crawled away, quickly getting to his feet with easy grace and threw his brother away from himself, into the corner of a house. A sick crunch was heard as his back snapped, and Cal cried out in pain, only in the same moment, Angel fell to the ground writhing in pain coming from nowhere.

Slowly, it disappeared, and Angel looked at his brother who smiled evilly.

"Do you understand now?" he taunted. "Have you ever wondered over your strength or your weird immunity to sickness? I almost died twelve years ago, Angel. The only thing that has kept me alive is the blood of vampires I received from granny Dru. But now I am one. Think, bro, your twin is a vamp and you're practically one too! Don't you just love twin connections?"

Angel reeled back as if someone had hit him. Dru, as in his great grandmother. Dru, as in Buffy's nemesis. Dru, as in the vampire who destroyed his family by killing his brother and making him one of them.

Filled with fury, Angel produced a stake from his pocket and readied himself to throw it. But it didn't leave his hand.

"I can't," he mumbled to himself.

An amused laugh rung through the air. Angel looked at Caliam and watched as he got up and walked away.

"You should have killed me," he laughed. "Now, you're just gonna be in pain, like her."

Angel stared after him, then he flew into the car. He had to find Buffy!

-#-#-#-

Buffy staked her last vampire and glanced at her watch. Eleven. Time to go home. Joyce usually came home eleven thirty after an exhibition. It was best for her she was at home by then. If she didn't want to be grounded for the rest of her life, of course. Giles wouldn't like that, nor would she for that matter. They had started to run out of 'extra studies' excuses for her coming home late.

She put the stake in a pocket and started to go home. When she got to the end of Hudson Street, she decided to take a shortcut through one of those dark, dangerous death alleys close to the Bronze. Those streets were common hunting grounds for the wandering dusters with pointed teeth.

She turned around the corner and walked right into a well known person. "Angel!" she exclaimed and hugged him. "What are you doing here?"

He flashed her a broad grin. "Not Angel," he drawled and threw her off him and into a hard wall.

She hit the wall head first and a fog clouded her senses. She tried to focus on the stranger standing over her with a smug smile on his lips.

"Caliam," he finished with a laugh.

The pain overtook her as everything went black.

-#-#-#-

A tearless, empty scream tore from her throat and an intensive pain ripped her body as the stranger thrust himself into her body. Her faint fighting subsided as the pain took over. All she could remember as she lay there, naked and broken at the ground, was the blood. The blood she had taken, the blood he had taken. And as she could feel the pain in her lower body disappear, she lost her faith in her cause. What kind of Slayer let herself be raped? What kind of Slayer let herself be turned?

The emptiness, the pain as her body turned from living, to living dead. And the dull, senseless ache from the dirty feeling of his hands on her body. All she knew, was that for her, there was no life anymore. Just a dead existence. But it was all for a cause she supposed. Yet, someone had violated her. Not only her body, but her mind, her soul. Someone wearing the face of her love.

Even now she could remember the happiness that flooded her senses at his presence. The love, the devotion in his eyes. He had been gentle and loving to her these two days, careful he'd never hurt her. Her love had waited for her to be ready, even as she knew he desired her.

But now, the girl she once was had disappeared. Left, there was a dark creature of the night. One of those she was supposed to fight.

Then everything went black, and the only thing she was aware of was him.

-#-#-#-

Angel searched through Sunnydale like a madman all night. He even called her house once, but she was not to be found anywhere. And as the sun came over the horizon, he drove to the home of Giles. Nervously, he knocked on the door. Almost immediately the door opened, revealing a fully clothed, disheveled Rupert Giles.

"Angel!" he exclaimed as he opened the door. "Thank God you're here! Buffy has disappeared!"

Angel nodded anxiously. "I know," he said. "I've been searching for her all night. You haven't seen her?"

"No, Giles confirmed. "Her mother called me at one in the morning, she's completely frantic. What have happened to her?"

Angel closed his eyes and sank to the floor as Caliam's last words played over and over again in his mind. He had gotten her. It was all his fault. Who knew what horrors she went through right now?

"Angel?" he heard the watcher say.

He opened his eyes and looked straightly at the middle-aged Englishman in front of him.

"He got her," he said.

"Who?" Giles asked, frowning.

Angel shook his head. "Call the others," he said. "Tell them to come here. I have something to tell you. I'll call a few others who should hear this."

Giles nodded and picked up the phone to dial a number. "Willow? Good. You have to get down here now. Buffy has disappeared."

-#-#-#-

It had been hers and her mother's secret for so many years, no one else knew. She was a Channeler, the messenger for the Powers that Be, and had been so since her early childhood. It had been her mother that understood the reason behind the weird visions and dreams, but now she knew herself.

The visions had never been wrong, they always came true. Sometimes, the visions were about her family, sometimes about strangers, but pain always followed. Not only the splitting headaches, but the pain of the events that followed them. She'd seen herself get raped, seen her brother become a werewolf, her parents divorcing and thousands of people needing help. And she and her mother always tried to help.

That was how they was introduced to the darker side of the world. The vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. And they tried to fight them. But soon they realized that nothing they did was enough. There were others out there, better equipped to fight. As the Slayer, the Chosen One.

She had gotten to know about the Slayer completely by mistake. One day, she'd been in her father's working room, searching for a cellphone when she accidentally stumbled upon a secret room filled with books and mysterious artifacts.

It was her father's heritage from his great grandmother Julia, a powerful gypsy sorceress. Books about magic and the creatures created from it. About the the darkness underneath the shady surface of the earth. And she'd read.

But it wasn't until now she got any use of her knowledge about magic.

She'd been in the living room, reading as she waited for her younger brother, Angel, to come home, when the visions hit her. A young girl, blond, being raped by a mirror image of Angel, a vampire, and being turned.

Another vision hit her immediately after that one. A collage of the girl, fighting vampires, arguing with an older man, chatting with her friends, kissing Angel. It was the Slayer, the Buffy Summers her brother had spoken so passionately about. And she needed help.

The only help finding the place Buffy would be in, was a nearby neon sign reading 'the Bronze'. She'd gotten up, quickly checking that Deidre was asleep, then she'd taken her only car to start looking for 'the Bronze'.

It hadn't taken her too long finding the place and she'd quickly parked the car at the front door to go looking for the girl. After ten minutes, she found her in an dark alley behind the club. She was bathing in her own blood and was bruised all over her body. That they were still visible said more than enough of how bad she was hurt.

She'd managed to pick the girl up and place her in the backseat of the car before taking her home, thanking God no cops were out at midnight checking for speeding cars. At least not in Sunnydale.

Well at home, she got rid of the girl's ripped clothes and washed her clean before dressing her in a large T-shirt. Then she placed her in one of the guest rooms and started to secure the house from unwanted guests. Only with that done, did she go after the old magic tools to secure herself and Deidre from a soulless demon by anchoring Buffy's human soul to her body.

Afterwards, sitting in a comfortable chair by Buffy's side, she let herself react to the vision. Who was the vampire who'd raped the young slayer and turned her? He'd been an exact copy of Angel, down to the clothes. Not a detail separated them. But it couldn't be Angel. Sure, he'd been a little violent since Caliam's death, but a rapist? No, he wouldn't do such a thing. Or would he?

-#-#-#-

Buffy opened her eyes to a candlelit room. She was lying on a big bed with green sheets. Someone had dressed her in a soft T-shirt, falling almost to her knees. As she moved to sit up, she became aware of someone stirring next to her. She looked to her left and found herself staring at a tall, red-headed woman sitting in a chair next to the bed.

The woman pushed a few strands of her curly hair out of her face and smiled at her. "Welcome back, Buffy," she smiled. "I'm Stephanie, Angel's sister. You had me worried there for a while."

Buffy gritted her teeth. She was hungry, very hungry. She needed food, or she had the feeling that she would jump Stephanie to get something to eat. Wait a minute. She was unwilling to feed on a human? Something was wrong. A huge wave of hunger washing over her convinced her that everything but food were of second priority though.

"Food," she growled. "I need food. Now."

Stephanie quickly got up, muttering something about knowing she forgot something. She hurried towards the door, but stopped as she reached it.

"I'll fetch something," she said quickly. "Just...just don't go looking for it, OK? My daughter is sleeping in the room next to yours."

Buffy nodded. She would never take a life. But that didn't make it easy not to grab the first wandering happy meal coming by.

Trying to keep her new game face at bay, she tapped her fingers at the covers, letting her sharp eyes flicker over the room. Suddenly she found herself trying to smell the living, breathing creature next door. Stop it, she ordered herself. Yes, you're a vampire. That doesn't mean you can make innocent children your lunch.

In a distant part of her mind, she wondered why she wasn't trying to kill herself, or for that matter someone else. Then she realized it. Her slayer instincts were still imprinted with fire on her soul. And they didn't let her get away that easy. But the thoughts were quickly interrupted as Stephanie stepped into the room, holding a squirming rabbit in her arms. She smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry," she said. "This is the biggest rabbit we have. But don't worry. We breed them for food."

Her stomach didn't let herself ask any questions. She almost ripped the poor creature apart as Stephanie handed it to her. Already growling, she sank her suddenly razor-sharp fangs into the rabbit and started to drink the sweet food coming from it.

Almost too soon, the animal was drained, and lay dead in her arms. Ashamed over what she'd become, she handed the dead creature to Stephanie, who handed it to someone else outside the room.

"Satisfied?" she asked.

"Yeah," Buffy nodded.

Stephanie smiled. "Good," she decided. "Now we can talk about what's happened to you."

Memories of drinking the blood of the living animal filled her, and horror rose in her mind. "H-h-he turned me," she forced out. "A creature I've sworn to kill made me one of them."

The woman frowned and looked worried. "Do you remember what happened before he drained you?" she asked nervously.

Buffy nodded. "I had been at Giles," she slowly said. "Angel kissed me goodbye, and I went to the park to slay. Then I remember the time being eleven o'clock, I had to go home. Mom would come soon, and I'm grounded. So I decided to take the quick way through the alley behind the Bronze. I turned around the corner, and walked right into him. And I-I hugged him.Then he threw me off him. After that, everything's blank."

Stephanie looked relieved at that, but Buffy didn't notice it, too caught up in her pain. "Why?" she sobbed. "What would he get from turning the slayer?"

She shook her head. "I don't know," Stephanie said truthfully. "But I guess he wanted you to suffer."

Buffy straightened up and her tears stopped coming but instead a deep cold filled her. "He looked just like him," she said in an empty voice. "But it wasn't him."

Stephanie looked deeply into her eyes. "Do you have any idea who it was?" she asked seriously.

Buffy swallowed. "He told me his name," she confessed. "Not that it meant anything. For all I know he could be centuries old. But for all it's worth... Caliam. He told me his name was Caliam."

Stephanie stared at her. "Caliam?" she gasped. "No! It can't be."

Buffy gave her strange look. "That's what he said," she said. "Why? Do you know him?"

Stephanie nodded and looked at her. "Caliam is Angel's twin brother," she said in a strangled voice. "And he has been dead for twelve years. If this vampire who r...turned you was Caliam, it means he..."

Buffy looked at her with pity. "...he was turned," Buffy concluded for her. "But I don't understand! If Caliam was turned, why hasn't he showed up until now? Merrick told me that vampires has a tendency to kill their own family after being turned."

Stephanie had a thoughtful look on her face. "I think he's the one responsible for our family's misfortune," she said slowly. "And if I'm right, it means he started plaguing us long ago, starting with my rape seven years ago..."

"I'm so sorry!" Buffy said softly, something inside her made her feel like she knew what Stephanie had gone through.

Stephanie smiled. "It's nothing," she said soothingly. "Sure, it hurt a lot in the beginning, but I got something else as repayment. My Deidre."

"You got pregnant," Buffy stated, pulling her fingers through her long blond hair.

Sadly she looked away. "I will never be able to get any kids," she said tonelessly. "Everything about me is dead."

A soft hand turned her face so she looked into Steph's eyes. "No, Buffy," she said softly. "Your body may be dead inside, but YOU are alive. Your soul, the thing that makes you you. It's not the body that makes you alive, it's your soul. That's the difference between you and the other vampires. They have lost their souls, you have yours."

Buffy looked doubtingly at her. !That's the thing I don't understand," she admitted. "How come I have my soul?" She paused as another thought hit her. "And how did I get here?" she exclaimed. "How do you know so much about vamps? How did you know about me?"

Laughing, Steph held her hand in the air to stop the questions raining on her. "One at the time," she told her. "I believe Angel has told you about mother being a psychic and father a gypsy, huh?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah," she confirmed. "He has mentioned it."

"Good," Steph said. "We start there. Listen carefully. My great grandmother was the daughter to the leader of the gypsy tribe, Julia. She also was a great beauty. But she fell in love with a man outside the tribe, and as she married him without the tribe's permission, they were banished. They had a daughter, Claudia, and as she was three, they decided to try and get in touch with the tribe, for Claudia's sake. But Julia said no. And on her way home that night, my grandmother made a decision that would change everything. As a gypsy she knew everything about vampires and now she decided to become one of them to punish her tribe for shutting her out, blaming Julia and Claudia for everything. And she was turned.

"But at the same time, Julia made a decision. Claudia would be accepted into the tribe. So Julia and a few others went to her and William's, her husband's, home to fetch her. But she had already come there, and when Julia arrived, she had turned William and was going to kill Claudia. Julia saved her.

"And she grew up in the tribe, not knowing any of her parents. She got married and had a son, Alessandro.

"Alessandro was a great boy. The favorite in the tribe. Intelligent, handsome and a natural leader. And as his grandmother died, he became their leader. But as the time went by, he got curious over his mysterious grandparents. Soon, by studying history, he knew what happened. And he blamed the tribe. He left it, taking only his heritage after Julia and Claudia.

"Sandro moved to USA and settled here, and using his brain, he managed to get rich. By doing what he always wanted to, design, he transformed into a multi-millionaire. Cars, houses, clothes, furniture, he designed it all. And people loved it.

"But life as a millionaire was lonely. So one day, he just decided to disappear for a while. He went to Ireland, and there he met my mother Maeve. They fell in love and got married. Together, they created a family. But soon it was clear that mother was a psychic.

"In the beginning, father didn't seem to care, but after Caliam's supposed death, it was just too much, and they divorced. Sure, they loved each other, but the marriage was too hard. And since then, they've had an on-off again relationship. Married right now.

"We are four children in the family. Me, the oldest, Caliam and Angel, the twins, and Antonio, the youngest. And it's something weird about everyone in the family. Father is a gypsy, and pretty good at magic. Mother is a psychic, Caliam's a vampire, Angel is never sick, and have some really strange reactions to some things. Antonio is a werewolf. And I, I have a connection to the Powers That Be."

Buffy gave her a puzzled look. "Excuse me?" she asked. "Powers That Be?"

Stephanie smiled briefly. "God," she said. "I get messages from him through the Oracles, who sends them to me as visions. And they're damn painful to get too..."

Buffy shook her head. "OK," she said. "Now you've lost me. Oracles? Aren't they supposed to be some sieresses in Greece?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yes," she answered. "But they were also the messengers for the gods. In this case, they gets orders from the Powers That Be and give them to me."

Buffy nodded. "I think I understand," she said. "You got a vision about me. But that still doesn't explain why I have a soul, or how you knows about me and vamps."

"No," Steph agreed. "That has to do with my great grandmother Drusilla."

Buffy jumped at the name and grabbed Stephanie by the neck. "What do you know about Dru?" she snapped angrily.

-#-#-#-

Alessandro Marciano was at the office in New York when Angelus reached him at his private number. He just needed to hear the name Drusilla to throw himself on his private plane to go to Sunnydale.

-#-#-#-

Maeve Marciano taught a class of college students in Gaelic when she received a message on her beeper. Ten minutes later, she sat in her car on her way to Sunnydale.

-#-#-#-

The students in Sunnydale High made big eyes when a red jaguar escorted by bodyguards on motorbikes stopped dead by the school and a beautiful woman dressed in Gucci ran to the library where Giles and Angelus Marciano had locked themselves in earlier. And they were even more surprised when a long, black limo stopped at the school and a man in Armani followed in her tracks. Then, when Snyder came to investigate, dark-clad guards sent him violently on his way. But when Willow, Xander, Oz and Cordelia got there, they immediately got in.

All school talked about it. Especially as a gorgeous guy on a bike around their own age joined the others. What was going on?

-#-#-#-

Angel paced nervously in the library when a beautiful woman came. They gave each other a quick hug.

"Are you OK, Angel?" Maeve asked worriedly.

Angel nodded. "Yes," he said. "I'm alright. But we've got trouble. We can talk more when the others are here."

Soon after, an older man who also hugged Angel arrived. And then Scooby Gang came and soon after a young man who greeted Angel enthusiastically. Now, everyone were there.

-#-#-#-

Oz watched the people gathered in the library. Both friends and strangers. All had one thing in common: they had come here to hear what Angel wanted to tell them. And something told him it was important.

Now when everyone apparently were there, Angel rose and got everyones attention. "I realize that most of you don't know each other, so I will start by explaining who everyone are," Angel started. "Mother, father, Antonio, this is Giles, Xander, Oz, Willow and Cordelia. Giles, gang, this is my mother Maeve, my father Alessandro and my brother Antonio."

Everyone nodded politely.

"And now back to the subject," Angel said with a suddenly grim voice. "Drusilla is here in Sunnydale, and she's here for revenge. And she has brought a part of it with her. Caliam is one of them."

That certainly got the attention of Giles, Maeve, Alessandro and Antonio. They seemed to be pretty chocked. Not that Oz had any clue who Caliam was, but it didn't look too good.

"Caliam?" Willow wondered and frowned. "Who's that? And revenge? Who do Drusilla want to take revenge on?"

The older man gave her a pale smile. "Caliam is my son and Angelus´ twin," he explained. "We all thought that he died twelve years ago. And Dru..." He swallowed thoroughly. "...was my grandmother," he finished. "She was the reason I left Italy and my tribe so long ago."

Willow nodded. "I understand," she said slowly. "But Mr. Marciano..."

"Sandro," he interrupted. "Only Sandro."

She gave him a quick smile. "Sandro," she said. "Why does Dru want to take revenge on you?"

Alessandro shook his head. "My great grandmother, Julia, banished Drusilla and her husband William...," he started.

Giles interrupted him with a sharp look. "William Spears?" he asked. "From England?"

Sandro gave him a confused look and nodded. Oz's brain immediately put two and two together. "Spike," he said out loud.

Giles nodded. "Yes, Spike," he agreed. "It seems like it has been going on a long time. Please continue, Mr Marciano."

Sandro smiled. "Well," he continued. "Julia banished Dru and William for their relationship. But when they had a daughter, Claudia, they wanted to re-enter the tribe for her sake, but Julia refused, so Dru made sure she was turned. Completely by her own will. And she blamed the tribe for everything. And in the last twenty years, she has taken out her anger on us, hers and Julia's children."

Giles nodded thoughtfully. "Yes," he said. "Caliam's death split you and your wife up. Your daughter's rape and your son's werewolf attack. And now Caliam's attack on Angel and Buffy..."

The woman opened her mouth for the first time. "Buffy?" she asked with a singing accent which betrayed her Irish origins. "Who's she?"

A collective moan came from Willow, Xander and Cordy, and Oz held back a smile. Time for the famous speech.

"In every generation, there's a Chosen One," Giles explained. "She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer."

When Giles uttered the last word, Angel jumped and stared at him, as the woman, Maeve, burst out laughing a warm, rich laugh. "The Slayer, huh?" she said slyly. "Only psychic madness I recall you saying..."

Angel stared at Giles who shrugged. "You needed to find out by yourself," he said.

"But," Angel disagreed, then darkened once again. "Not that it matter now..."

The woman looked sharply at him. "What do you mean?" she said.

Angel looked into the empty air in front of him. "That's the reason I called you here," he said sadly. "Buffy is gone, and I fear that Caliam has gotten her. And if he has...she's dead. And there's no reason to not believe it."

A deep silence fell over the room, as everyone realized what had happened. They had lost her. The happy young woman who had brought light to their usually dark lives. Yet, Oz couldn't help but notice the strange expression at Angel's mother's face. She seemed concentrated at something, something hard.

Suddenly someone moved from the stillness. Antonio flew up from his seat and looked around cursing. "Damn," he swore. "I forgot that damned moon."

Then he spotted one of the book cages, ran into it and locked the door. "Thang G...," he started to say, but the sentence ended with a growl.

"Full moon," Oz commented. "I hope the cage can hold him."


	5. Part Five

"She is dead."

The words woke the room up. Angel looked up from his place on the floor, slumped against a wall. Giles blinked, his first movement since Angel had spoken those dreadful words. And one voice rose over the rest.

"She is dead," the voice confirmed from the open door.

Nine heads snapped towards the sound and stared at the tall, redheaded woman with a little girl by her side.

"And you will join her," the woman continued with a grim smile. "If you don't do as I say. Get ready to fight. Because tomorrow, the fight will come. We attack at dawn."

Angel rose with a deadly grace from his place. "My sister Steph," he introduced. "And her daughter, Deidre."

Steph gave them a brief smile and nodded.

"You had a vision," her mother said. "You found her."

"Yes, mother," she confirmed. "He didn't let her live."

Angel's eyes got as cold as eyes, and a blank look settled on his face. Then he looked at Deidre and the Scooby Gang in the couch. "You four," he said. "Take care of Deidre. We will need the others on the battlefield."

Xander gave him a puzzled look. "Aren't we going to fight?" he asked.

Angel just looked at him. "Not this time," he said softly. "We have three powerful vampires and no Buffy. I can't let you go into battle with your skills. No one can protect you. And you can't fight by yourselves. But my family, I and Giles can. We're going up against them. If we die, you're the only ones left to fight."

The room was silent.

-#-#-#-

She was a dark shadow. Fitting, as she was a child of the darkness now. One with the night, dressed in a dark, fitted clothes. The sword given to her rested next to her as she sat hidden inside the warehouse, and in her hand she had a crossbow with quite a few arrows resting on the wooden floor.

She had to be prepared. They would come at dawn, or so Stephanie had told them. And thank lord Willow and the others weren't coming with them. She liked and respected them, they were her friends, but they were no warriors.

Buffy looked out over the place, filled by vampires. Probably over a hundred. It would be hard for Angel and the others to defeat them. But then, they had her. One perk with being a vampire was the extra strength to her slayer strength. And of course that the vamps couldn't feel her

anymore. She could feel them though. Buffy seriously wondered if Caliam knew what he had done.

Caliam. She could see her sire having a serious make-out session with Drusilla, while Spike watched with jealousy. Buffy felt truly sorry for him. Dru had turned him against his will, by love. And now she had thrown him away for their great grandchild. That sure was a punch in the face. But then again, he stayed with her.

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted as her enhanced hearing picked up the sound of six persons coming towards the building. She quickly slipped outside. Time for some betraying of her new species.

-#-#-#-

Antonio Marciano struggled to keep his still strong animal instincts from overpowering him. He truly hated being a werewolf. Especially as he never had any memory of what he had done in his moonself.

His hand gripped the longsword he carried, his body tense. But that was what all the others did too. They were after all six against an unknown number. And that was never good, even if they all were trained in martial arts.

Then it happened. One second he'd been walking next to Stephanie, in the next he was dragged into a dark alley by a black-clad woman. He struggled to get loose and to his surprise she immediately let go.

"Listen," she snapped. "There's about a hundred vampires in the warehouse. Spike, Dru and

Caliam have their place in the back, on some kind of stage. You have to attack at the same time. Do it through the main entrance. I'll back you up."

To his surprise he felt himself nodding in agreement.

"Good," she said and turned to go.

"Wait!" the words came from his mouth before he knew it. She paused, her back still towards him. "Who are you?" he asked confused.

She turned her head, an amused smile playing on her lips. "Let's just say...," she started but paused. "I'm a friend." Then she mysteriously just disappeared, leaving him staring after her. Antonio turned and ran the others.

"I've met someone!" he gasped. Everyone in the group gave him weird looks.

"Uh," Maeve said. "That's nice, but can we talk about your love life later?"

He looked puzzled, then everything cleared. "No, not that way," he said hurriedly. "Someone grabbed me just a moment ago. She told me there's a hundred vampires in there, and that we should attack through the front door. Then she said that she would back us up."

Angel looked at him with a faint hope in his eyes. "Who was she?" he asked hopefully. "How did she look?"

Tony shook his head. "I don't know," he replied. "It was dark, and she was dressed in black. She only told me that she was a friend."

Giles nodded. "OK," he said. "But now's the question: can we trust her?"

"Yes," Steph said quickly.

Maybe a little too quick. Antonio looked at her. She knew something he didn't.

"Why?" Sandro asked quietly. "Did you see something?"

With something close to relief, Stephanie nodded. "My visions," she answered. "I've seen her in them. She's on our side."

"Well, that's good," Maeve said. "But we have to get going. The sun will rise soon."

The team started to go again, with Angel as a leader.

-#-#-#-

Caliam smirked as he felt his childe enter the warehouse again. It was a well known secret that a sire could 'feel' those he had sired. He had known she was there all the time. But he wondered why she didn't come down. Scared, he guessed. It was kind of confusing being turned.

Grinning he rose to go to her. If she didn't come to him, he would go to her. She had been a good fuck. Maybe they could repeat it. And this time, she would be alive and awake. It was no fun fucking if your partner just lay there like a piece of dead meat.

He made his way through the crowds of vampires and up the stairs to the place she was hiding. Caliam stepped closer to her on soft feet. Then he noticed the sword and the crossbow. And he understood, but he didn't know how. She was one of them, but wasn't. The weapons could only mean one thing. Her pesky little friends were on their way here to take revenge. And that meant only one thing to him. Time to go back to Italy.

Caliam quickly managed to get out of the building without anyone noticing. Sure, he was all for a fight, but he really liked staying alive too. And while thinking that, he slipped away through the night.

-#-#-#-

Buffy readied her crossbow as she heard the team by the entrance. Then she let two arrows fly, piercing two guards. And at the same time, Angel and the others burst in, attacking the vamps. With a bitter smile, she let herself look at him. Dressed in black with his hair disheveled and with an angry expression in his face, he looked as handsome as ever. She would miss him.

Then she started to fire her arrows, sending another bunch of vampires into dust. By now, vampires attacked the team from everywhere. Even Spike and Dru had joined the fight and her friends had split up.

Angel was fighting his way towards Spike and Dru, while Giles and Steph guarded the exits. Alessandro was fighting with a deadly skill in the middle of the floor, while Maeve kept herself busy by the wall.

She fired her last arrows and took a quick look at the situation. The team had taken out quite a few opponents, but it was time for her to join the fight. Maybe she could find Caliam and make him pay...

Then she made a double take. Caliam! He wasn't in the building anymore. And worse, she could feel a lone vampire disappear fast through the sewers. Her sire had managed to escape.

She shook her head. There was no use thinking about that now. Buffy grabbed her sword, vaulted down and attacked the closest vampire, who gave her a surprised look. And even as he turned into dust he spoke.

"Traitor," he whispered.

Buffy felt a sharp pang of guilt, but shook her head and attacked the next vampire. And soon she stood eye to eye with Spike.

"Slayer," he drawled. "So you've finally gathered enough courage to fight me again."

She shrugged. "I thought you needed some rest," she said.

Spike's eyes hardened and he snarled at her. Then he attacked. In the next second, their swords clashed together. Their movements were graceful and fast, like fighting cats. She hissed as his sword nicked her on the arm, suddenly grateful she had declined a coat. Spike grinned, but the grin quickly disappeared as the hurt skin miraculously healed and her face morphed into the game face.

"You're one of us!" he exclaimed.

She made a swipe with her sword and caught him by surprise. His head lost its place and flew through the air to disappear in a faint dust rain. "Yes!" she growled, then managed to calm down enough to make her new real face disappear.

Then she attacked again. A quick glance towards the place she'd seen Drusilla just a moment ago told her that the ancestor of Angel had gone down and an unnecessary deep breath told her that someone had played a little bit with fire. She ignored it and attacked the last remaining vamps. The deaths of their leaders and the fire had made them think about their own immortal mortality and had fled the place.

Buffy killed the last vampire with a hard kick, sending him into some sharp pieces of wood. With a sigh she straightened up. Now, there was just one thing left to do. And it was the hardest of them all. She felt eleven pairs of eyes in her back and she glanced their way, ignoring the sticky, warm feeling of the fire behind her, already ruling over a third of the building.

And there they were. Alessandro, Maeve, Stephanie, Antonio and Giles, Willow, Xander, Oz, Cordy and Deidre entering from the front with the rising sun at their backs. Her eyes paused at Deidre and looked deeply into her eyes. The girl calmly met her look and gave her a slight nod. Then she let her gaze roam over Angel. Tired and sweaty from the fight, he still was a beautiful sight for her eyes.

He took a step forward as their eyes met. And at the same time Willow uttered what they all thought. "Buffy!" she exclaimed softly.

Fighting an urge to go to them, to just let herself sink into their love, she smiled sadly. "Buffy," she repeated to herself. Then she did it. She turned and started to walk away. Away from her friends and the love of her life.

"Why?" Angel's voice tore through the air, sending daggers of pain into her heart.

She turned around a last time and looked sadly at them. Then she let her face morph into the now familiar gameface.

Gasps and faintly mumbled 'no!s' reached her sensitive ears and eyes suddenly became terrified, somewhat sad and understanding. She let her face disappear and walked away. And as she disappeared out of sight, she caught the sound of Angel's voice in a whisper.

"I love Buffy. I always will."

A tiny smile crept onto her face then disappeared to be replaced by a mask of pure pain. "I love you too," she softly mumbled.

Then she disappeared into the sewers and her prepared flight path.

**The End**


End file.
